Penshaw Things to Do

Many many years ago, around the time of the Crusades, a young John Lambton, son of a local Lord, was fishing in the River Wear when he should really have been at church.
He had no luck with his fishing though, and caught only a very strange looking "worm". He took it home with him, but on the way threw it down the well on the road to Lambton Hall - this is still called Worm's Well.
Many years later, John Lambton went away to fight in the Crusades. While he was away the worm emerged from the well, much bigger and now very ferocious. It wrapped itself 3 times around what is now called Penshaw Hill (pic), leaving the spiral depressions in the hill that can still be seen.
It began preying on lambs and even taking the milk of cows by tearing their udders. In order to keep themselves and their livestock safe, the villagers began leaving fresh milk in a ditch near to Lambton Hall. The worm would drink this and return to its resting place.
Many people tried to slay it, but even if cut into pieces the pieces would rejoin and the worm would crush to death those trying to kill it.
Eventually Lord Lambton returned from the Crusades and saw it as his duty to slay the worm. A witch told him how to do this - to fight the worm in the river Wear so that as he chopped it to bits, the pieces would be carried away by the flowing water. In return for this advice he had to kill the first living thing he saw afterwards.
He arranged that upon killing the worm, he would give a blast on his trumpet and his servants would release a dog that he would then kill.
The fight with the worm went to plan, and it was soon sent to a watery grave. But after sounding the horn, his father was so happy that his son was alive that he ran out to meet him. Lambton could not kill his father, so still killed the dog instead. But this was not what the witch had said, and so 9 generations of Lambtons were cursed to die an early and untimely death. Which is exactly what heppened.